Arinze Onuaku: Won't play Friday, doubtful for Sunday

Gloria Wright / The Post-StandardArinze Onuaku laughs with trainer Ryan Cabiles during Syracuse's practice Thursday for the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday in Buffalo.

Buffalo – Limited to one fully working leg, Arinze Onuaku was reduced to designated passer in Syracuse University’s Thursday practice for the NCAA Tournament.

Onuaku, the Orange men’s senior center, continues to nurse a strained right quadriceps muscle. He and SU coach Jim Boeheim said Thursday that the 6-foot-9, 261-pound center will not play Friday night, when the top-seeded Orange meets 16th seed Vermont at 9:40 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“He’s definitely not going to play tomorrow night,” declared Boeheim from the NCAA podium. “If we were able to win, whether he would be able to go Sunday, it’s doubtful in my mind. That’s really where we stand with him.”

Instead Onuaku, dressed in grey warmups adorned with an SU insignia, tried to find ways to make himself useful. He stood and watched as his teammates worked through the lay-up line. Then he ambled to the other end of the court to lob passes at the Orange big men during a drill.

His leg, injured after he tried to block Greg Monroe’s shot last week at the Big East Tournament, has improved, Onuaku said. He walks without pain. The swelling has subsided. His flexibility has improved. So has his range of motion and his strength.

“It’s getting better,” he said.

SU athletic trainer Brad Pike described Onuaku’s playing status as “day-to-day.” He has yet to practice, or jog or run or even attempt to pedal an exercise bike. He has spent all of SU’s practice time in the training room, where Pike has administered a variety of treatments. Those treatments include aquatic exercises, which Onuaku has continued in Buffalo.

“He has made some good progress each day,” Pike said. “He’s just not ready to play yet.”

Pike said a number of factors will determine when or if Onuaku will return to the basketball court for the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re looking at his function, we’re looking at his comfort level,” Pike said. “He has to be safe for him to play.”

Pike said the immediacy of the NCAA Tournament has not applied pressure to hasten Onuaku’s healing. SU will not rush Onuaku back to action, Pike said, if it means that the SU center might endanger himself physically.

Onuaku said he has adopted a wait-and-see mentality. He wakes up each day, assesses his physical well being and goes from there.
“The good thing is I have been getting better,” he said. “I don’t have any control over the time period or what’s going to happen.”

Physically, he’s improving. The more difficult part might come on Friday, when his teammates, dressed in uniform, prepare for an NCAA Tournament game.
Onuaku is a fifth-year senior with a history of knee problems. He’s suffered through two surgeries and the attendant rehabilitation to repair quad tendons in each knee. And during this, his senior year, he will start the NCAA Tournament as spectator.

“This is what you work for every year – the NCAA Tournament. It’s just bad timing for me right now,” he said.“The hardest thing is this is my senior year, this is my team. To not be on the floor with them is tough. I’m here regardless. I’ve been talking to the players all the time. That’s what I gotta keep doing if I’m on the bench or if I’m on the floor. They gotta be able to see me and hear me out there.”

SU players feel for the big guy. Onuaku and Andy Rautins, two fifth-year players who came to SU together, have been the Orange men’s unquestioned leaders this season. SU players know how much Onuaku wants to play.

“He’s handled it as well as anybody I can think of,” said SU guard Scoop Jardine. “I don’t know if I could have handled it like that. He’s been great.”